Well Orient Kitchen on Semple Street in Oakland is excellent. I'm not sure what I'd describe the venue as (Mandarin, Hunan, or Szechuan) but it is very good and quite authentic. They have both a 'merkin menu and one for the Chinese. The later is better IMHO. To get there take Bates (can be reached from Boulevard of the Allies or by way of Atwood from Forbes) and Semple will be the street with the SOD (a bar)on one corner. Find any place to park that you can (not always easy). Orient Kitchen is on the right hand side about midway down the block. --------------------------------esp------------------------------------------ James Stepanek NRA,SAF Graduate Student Materials Science and Engineering Carnegie Mellon University God created mankind, Samuel Colt made them equal. Thank God I'm an atheist. These opinions are mine alone, others can find their own. -------------------------Don't tread on me-----------------------------------
Pittsburgh, PA
Chinese in Oakland
Hello Pittsburgh! Excerpts from netnews.pgh.food: 24-Jul-96 Re: Chinese in Oakland by James W. [email removed] > Well Orient Kitchen on Semple Street in Oakland is excellent. I'm not > sure what I'd describe the venue as (Mandarin, Hunan, or Szechuan) but I would guess Cantonese. Nothing is very spicy. Just good home-cooked meals. :) (you know, it's funny, I asked a Chinese guy what he thought of Chinese food, and he said "Chinese food? It's just plain old food to me." Yuk, yuk, yuk....) Orient Kitchen is a great place with great food for a late bite with friends, but may not be the best thing if your dad's is taking out the family. It's sort the "dive bar" of chinese restaurants, if you know what I mean. For somewhat more upscale dining, tell dad to drive over to Tai Pei on Walnut street in Shadyside. Really excellent food, some unusual dishes, and the best service of any Chinese restaurant in Pgh. My favorite was this "Hunan Vegetable Pie", a crispy and delicious appetizer, have to try it to believe it. A bit pricey for 7.95, but definetely worth it. Imagine a savory vegetable filling wrapped in a crispy "yuba" (a tofu byproduct) skin, then deep-fried to a golden brown. Served with hoison sauce, and garnished with blades of scallion. Sometimes it comes wrapped over with chinese-style pancakes, other times no. Tai Pei is just a bit more expensive than China Palace, just down the street, but is so much better. China Palace is for people who don't know any better, IMO. Anyway, I took my family there for graduation, and everyone was very happy with everything. (A Japanese family of five, plus my s.o., all connoseurs of Chinese cuisine.) Even my father (whose tried everything in NYC's Chinatown) was impressed. We ordered six dishes and appetizers, they were all good. As far as style of food, as you might of guessed by the name, it's Taiwanese. Some consider Taiwanese cuisine the most delicious and highly developed in the world, because of the many influences Taiwan has had over the years. It's a very int'l style of cooking. -Tatsu (now living in Boston, where decent Chow Foon is hard to come by. Decent anything, actually. Well, I went to Joyce Chen the other day, wasn't too bad......) ______ / _/_ --/ __. / _ . . (_/ (_/|_<__/_)_(_/_ [email removed] [email removed] [email removed]